


Boy Will Be Boys.

by picturesque



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, F/M, Physical Abuse, Romance, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 20:26:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picturesque/pseuds/picturesque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lilian's been told all her life that "boys will be boys. They hurt you if they love you," but that mentality of hers changes when a certain Niall Horan enters her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Boy Will Be Boys.

Lilian is six years old the first time she experiences it – it being the physical and emotional abuse from a boy, both being casually cruel.

She’s got her hair tied up in pig tails, and a pretty little pink dress on. Lilian’s got no worries or cares on her mind, and the world seems at ease as she slides herself down the winding slide on the playground. However, once her little feet hit the ground, she’s faced with a boy. A smile falls over Lilian’s lips, as she politely greets him – ‘cause her mother’s always told her to be kind to others, no one deserves to be treated rudely. That was her mother’s number one rule.

But within a flash, Lilian is pushed to the ground, gravel scraping her hands and knees. Tears swell up in her eyes as she looks up at the six year old boy who is towering over her with a wicked smile. All he says is, “your pigtails are stupid,” before running off to his friends who are awaiting him on the soccer field.

Lilian picks herself up and runs to the teacher nearby in tears, explaining what happened. The teacher simply dusts off her hands and her knees, and shakes her head before lowering herself to the ground to look Lilian in the eye. “Boys will be boys, sweetheart. Maybe he thinks you’re cute,” the teacher grins before patting Lilian’s head and shooing her off.

But Lilian’s confused. Because why would someone hurt someone they like? It didn’t make any sense but that was the mentality that Lilian grew up with, and it started here.

—

She’s twelve years old when she has her very first crush. The kind of crush that makes butterflies erupt within her stomach and her heart race pick up ever so quickly.

When the two of them are assigned seats next to each other, Lilian’s over the moon. The boy she likes however, takes this as an opportunity to pick on Lilian. He seems to like knocking her books off her desk whenever he walks by or throwing crumpled up pieces of paper at her. She shrugs it off, and accepts it willingly because that’s what she’s been taught her entire life – that boys will be boys. They’ll pick on you because they like you, right?

So Lilian goes home and sits herself on her bed, clutching her pillow to her chest with an exuberant smile on her lips. “He knocked over my books today. He has to like me right?” she mumbles to herself, getting excited at the thought of him tormenting her.

Lilian is twelve, and her mentality is that “if someone hurts you, they love you.”

—

She’s sixteen when she’s in her very first relationship.

Lilian’s convinced that she loves him despite all the bruises he gives her, and despite the constant verbal abuse that he carelessly tosses her way. She tells herself that if he hurts her, he loves her and that if he lays a hand on her, it’s probably her fault. It’s probably something that she’s done; ‘cause that’s just what she was taught growing up. Boys will be boys, right?

So when Lilian’s back is against her bedroom wall, and her so called love of her life is standing in front of her, breath reeking of alcohol, she tells herself that this is love. Even when he’s yelling at her, calling her names that will haunt her nightmares and scar her mind, she tells herself that this is love. She engraves in her mind that this is love even when bruises litter her skin because of him.

It takes Lilian a year to realize that she can’t deal with him anymore. She simply cannot deal with the pain he puts her through, so she ends it. But she is the person who feels guilty in the end, because she was so convinced that it was love.

“He only hurt me because he loved me,” is something that she repeats to herself in her sleep before drifting off.

—

Lilian is nineteen when she meets Niall. Niall Horan, a bubbly, charismatic Irish fellow who constantly sits next to her in their shared writing class at University.

The first class they had together, Niall had plopped himself down next to her, turning his head to face her before reaching out his hand for her to shake. But instead, Lilian flinches. She’s prone to doing so because she’s so used to getting hurt, and having hands abuse her. He’s confused by this, but his hand stays in place as he waits for her to take it. She eventually takes it, shaking it before mumbling, “I’m Lilian.” Niall isn’t phased by her timid and introverted personality – one that she had developed over years of having a poisonous mentality. “Cute name. I’m Niall. Can I call you Lily?” he simply asks with a bright smile. She doesn’t return the smile, but she nods and focuses her attention to the lecture going on.

—

Niall confuses Lilian. She doesn’t understand him. She doesn’t understand why he’s so kind to her, she doesn’t understand why instead of knocking her books off her table, he’s leaning down to pick up the pencil that she drops. She doesn’t understand why instead of him throwing pieces of crumpled paper at her head, he’s writing cute little notes and delicately placing them on her desk. Lilian begins to think that he must hate her. If he’s being so kind to her, he must hate her. ‘Cause when someone love someone, they hurt them, right?

So when Lilian tells her only friend about Niall, her friend gives her a soft smile and pats her thigh in a pitying sort of way. “He’s got a crush on you Lilian,” is all her friend says, but Lilian doesn’t understand. How does he have a crush on her? Isn’t he supposed to hurt her if he likes her?

Lilian walks into class the next day with a mind filled with questions but she silences them as she watches Niall walk into class with the same old smile of his. He sits down next to her before saying, “Hey Lily. You look cute today,” but instead of ignoring him as she usually would, she turns to look into his cerulean eyes.

“Stop.” Is all she says to him.

He quirks his eyebrow as if confused before replying, “what do you mean? Stop what?”

“Stop being so nice to me,” she mutters, chewing on her bottom lip – something she always did when she was nervous.

“Why would I do that Lily?” he asks, turning his body so he can better look at her.

“Because my friend thinks you have a crush on me. So stop being nice to me,” Niall’s completely lost at this point, and can’t bring himself to understand Lilian. Maybe she’s not worth all this confusion, but part of Niall is telling him to go for it anyways.

“I don’t understand anything you’re saying, but what the hell – will you go out with me this Friday?” his sentence comes out rushed, ‘cause he’s nervous. It’s a question that he’s been itching to ask since he first laid his eyes on the girl.

Lilian isn’t sure why but she nods, mumbling a quiet “okay,” before turning away from the boy. She’s almost sure she can see him thrust his hand in the air out of victory, but she chooses to ignore it. She also chooses to ignore her heart fluttering at the action, and the small smile that automatically forms on her lips.

—

Lilian is twenty when she has her first fight with her boyfriend of seven months, Niall. They’re arguing about something stupid. They’re arguing over the fact that Lilian doesn’t seem to trust Niall. It pains Niall to know that Lilian doesn’t fully trust Niall, let alone any other person on this planet.

He’s yelling at her, out of pent up frustration. He’s spent a good year trying to understand Lilian, and to this day he still doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand why she flinches every time he wraps an arm around her or places a kiss to her cheek or lips or forehead.

But he finally understands when her back is against the wall and he’s standing in front of her. Lilian shuts her eyes as if ready to embrace a hit and mumbles, “go ahead. Hit me. They always do.” Niall swears that his heart shatters into a million little pieces just by hearing that come out of her mouth. Lilian flinches when she feels two arms pull her into a tight hug, but she doesn’t flinch when she feels Niall peppering kisses into her hair. Instead, she cries. She cries because she loves him, she cries because she’s scared he’ll hurt her like the others. “I would never in a million years ever lay a hand on you,” Niall mumbles, letting a hand gently caress Lilian’s back in an attempt to soothe her. For the first time in years, Lilian feels at ease in someone else’s arms. She feels herself relax and her heart’s race slow down. For some odd reason, Lilian feels at home in Niall’s arms. She knows that he loves her, even though he doesn’t hurt her.

She knows that he loves her through the little actions he does. When they’re laying on the couch, her head in his lap, and he looks down with a small smile on his lips – she knows he loves her then. When they’re lying in bed, and his arm automatically coils around her waist, pulling her into his chest – she knows that he loves her then. When they’re driving in the car and he reaches over to grab her hand with his free hand, lacing their fingers in the most innocent manner – she knows he loves her, especially then.

Lilian isn’t so confused by Niall anymore. After being told her entire life that “boys will be boys. They hurt those that they love,” that mentality has slowly been replaced by, “someone who loves you would never do anything to purposely hurt you.” Lilian finds herself slowly healing because of the kind hearted, cerulean eyed boy that she met exactly a year ago.

Boy’s won’t just be boys and Lilian curses the day that that mentality was engraved into her mind. She is however, thankful for the bright Irish boy that didn’t give up on her.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed it! I got inspiration to write this off of a poem I read on tumblr. But again, I hope you like it and be sure to leave a comment letting me know what you thought! x


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